New Beginnings
by blackwolf1087
Summary: One-shot. Lily constantly tries to please her sister, but is always shoved away. One day, a shy boy in black overhears their fight.


***The characters and world belong to JK Rowling.

New Beginnings

"I hate you." Brown eyes met green, two shining in jealousy, two in betrayal. Two little girls stood on the sidewalk, a few feet away from a nearby tree. One was thin and quite lovely, red hair fluttering in the wind, the blue sash of her petite white dress accompanying it. Another girl, also thin, was glaring at her. The girl's blonde hair stuck to her sweaty face, her nose wrinkled at some imaginary stench.

A young boy crouched behind the nearby tree, flattening himself against the warm bark in order not to be seen. He did not wish to intrude, nor talk to the girls, really. He did not particularly like talking. His father told him it was bad for him to do so. The boy wore black which, with his black hair, made his pasty white skin seem all the more unnatural. As one might assume, he did not come outside often. He was only outside at the moment because his parents were fighting again.

The two girls were entirely oblivious to the boy's presence, each focusing on the other.

"Really?" The second girl smiled, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes. "You say such pleasant things, Petunia." She looked at the daisy in her hand, frowning.

Petunia's twisted smile warped her face into a disfigured mass. "Lily." She paused, her eyes darting to the daisy and back, "You are so annoying." She crossed her stick-thin arms across her chest.

"Annoying?" Lily's delicate voice trembled from restraining exasperation, "I just wanted to show you a daisy!" She paused, exhaling softly to calm her frenzied mind, "Your favorite flower." She took the held out the flower to her sister, hoping the second time would be better. Not that there was any evidence to support her hope.

Petunia's hand darted forward knocked the daisy from Lily's hand. It fell slowly, petal's wilting as it drifted toward the grass below them. "That is not a daisy! It's some freak trick." The girl sneered, then kicked a rock. The stone narrowly missed her sister. A childish action unbecoming of a girl her age. But Petunia had never cared about that. "And I hate daisies." Her neck was beginning to turn red, as it always did when she was angry. If Lily had been less kind, she would've noticed that if her sister were more plump, she would appear at that moment to be very piggish, but her heart would never permit such an observation. As it was, she only worried over her dear sister's nerves.

"Please don't be upset with me, Petunia. I can make you whatever flower you want!" She bent down and plucked another blade of grass, eager to please her sister and see joy in her sister's eyes that could match her own.

Eyes of steel greeted her upturned gaze. "I don't want any of your freakishness."

"Oh! Don't be like that." Lily's eyes began to gleam, turning them into an unnatural emerald. "It wasn't a freak trick." She bent to pick up the now wilted flower, "I made it!" She cradled the flower in her hand, gently stroking the petals and restoring their color.

"Out of grass." Petunia pushed her sister who promptly fell onto the grass. The flower lay beside her, forgotten in her distress.

"Petunia!" Lily looked up, water beginning to fill her eyes. She could not bring herself to say anything ugly, anything her sister would have said in her position. She simply stared at her sibling through glassy eyes, "That was most unkind."

"It's not natural." Petunia looked down upon her sister. If one squinted, the girl's thick clumps of hair almost appeared to be snakes.

"Is too! Otherwise I couldn't do it." Lily stood up, sniffing slightly, but otherwise unharmed. She brushed her dress, smoothing the wrinkles and frowning at the grass stain on the left side of her otherwise spotless dress.

"I'm going home, weirdo." Petunia turned and walked away from her sister, who began to echo her movements. "Don't follow me."

Lily stopped and huffed. This was all quite fine, in her mind. She didn't particularly want to deal with her sister at the moment. She sat herself on the ground and called after her sister, "Fine! Tell Mom I'll be home before dinner, though!"

"I won't!" The girl's voice was distant and shrill, like the whistle of an unwelcome train.

Lily frowned at her sister's departure, more distressed than she had previously let on. Her sister had been in a terrible mood today and all she had wanted was to make it better, but instead it had gotten worse. What a horrible sister she had been! She began to sob. Of course, Lily had been kind, too kind, but how was she to know this?

"Lily." The brave boy dared to venture forth from behind the tree. His voice was pitched high from nerves and he held his hands stiff at his side, still standing beside his tree, his safety net. His protection from the world's pain. He always hid. From his Mother. From his Father. He was an owl in the daylight and wanted nothing more than to retreat to his nook in the tree, but the green-eyed girl needed help. And he was the only one there.

Only him.

She needed _him_.

He could talk for this. He just hoped it wasn't bad for him to do so. That he did not mess it up.

The dear girl stopped sniffling and looked up at the boy, emerald eyes gleaming with unshed tears. "Severus." Her voice betrayed her shock that the quite boy had actually spoken, that he was outside. She had seen him a few times when he had first moved in. Her mother had insisted on visiting the neighbors, after all. She'd even baked a pie for them. Deciding to reward the boy's bravery, she asked a question. The answer to which quite frankly she was very curious about. "How long have you been here?"

The boy did not respond, but after a few seconds his hand slowly reached upward and he plucked a leaf from the tree. His coal eyes never left the girl, but behind their unease they were warm, like soft comely embers. He lifted the leaf to his mouth and blew on it.

The leaf's two sides began to flap slowly and it flew gently over to where the girl sat on the grass, her mouth open. Normally Lily would never have been spotted with such an undignified expression, but at the moment she was quite shocked.

"It's quite natural, actually." His face held a shy smile as the girl held the leaf-butterfly in her hands, watching in amazement as it fluttered its leaves. Her face was alight with youthful delight, emerald eyes now shining with excitement.

"You're a witch, Lily."

She looked at him and he had never before, or since, beheld such pure joy. Never again, he decided, would he hide behind the tree. The joy of the outside world, of this girl, was worth the pain.


End file.
